


Playing with Fire

by Harmonyhhr



Series: 'Keeping' it Ghostly [5]
Category: Ghost (Swedish Band)
Genre: Drunken Shenanigans, MTG, Nightmares, alpha and ellie bonding time, alpha can be an adult though, and no ellie isn't possessed again, dark times are ahead, eventually, i swear it will all come together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-12 04:42:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9055849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harmonyhhr/pseuds/Harmonyhhr
Summary: After their big return from the grave Alpha pays Omega and Ellie a visit, concerned his brother is being taken advantage of. A few months pass and he realizes Omega isn't the only one he should be worried about.





	1. The Hamburglar Archive

**Author's Note:**

> Just some silliness for now. Chapter 2 will be darker.

One week after Ellie and Omega left Phoenix

Ellie was in the process of making soup when a portal appeared in the living room. Her alarm dissolved to relief as a familiar black clad figure stepped through, though the lack of a silver mask accompaniment still threw her for a loop. The close cropped dirty blonde hair and stature told her her visitor was Alpha but she wouldn’t be completely sure until he spoke. After all, she’d only just truly met him. Stepping away from the stove, she threw out her arms to hug him.

It was surreal, seeing him again. She’d spent three months mourning the Ghouls and then they suddenly reentered her life - human, obnoxious and lovable as ever. Whatever happened between she and Omega, she hoped she could become even better friends with the the others. They probably needed someone to keep them in line on occasion. 

Ellie tried her best to glance stealthily at the highlighted symbol on his jacket. Yes, this was Alpha. “Alpha! This is a surprise.”

He chuckled as he pulled away from the hug. “It must be, considering you still don’t know who I am.” He winked roguishly and she knew she was forgiven. “I take it that no good Omega forgot to tell you I’d be coming?”

Her eyes widened in comprehension, then rolled hard enough to make him laugh again. “So that explains the booze run he went on.” She returned to tending her food. “I don’t suppose you’re going to get him all liquored up and then convince him to come back, are you?”

Alpha took a seat at the kitchen table, glancing around at the small things Ellie had brought from her home to the cabin. “The thought never crossed my mind.”

Ellie didn’t turn as she answered him. “Oh I’m sure it didn’t. Just don’t push him too hard, okay? He’s still kinda pissed.” When Alpha didn’t respond, she looked back to find him studying her with narrowed eyes. “Ah, sorry. I’m aware you know him better than I do. After everything that’s happened, I tend to get a little overprotective.”

He glanced at her things again, her Magic deck box in particular. “Yes, I can imagine you do.” Sarcasm weighed down his words. “I can see how comfortable you are here already.”

Her wooden spoon cracked against the counter as Ellie pulled the pot off the burner. “Gee Alpha, way to not-so-subtly call me a whore.” She sighed and abandoned her soup for the fridge, pulling out a six pack of beer to set on the table in front of her guest. “I should be thanking you for the power you’re giving me though, seeing as how he could bang any chick he wants and can kick me to the curb whenever the mood strikes him.”

Grabbing her Magic deck, she took the seat opposite him at the table and asked, “Considering you’ve known Omega for _so long_ , I’m assuming you know how to play?”

Alpha nodded. “He keeps a deck for me here and makes me practice with his nerdy ass.” He cocked an eyebrow as he watched her crack open a beer and down half of it in one swallow.

She burped (none too lady-like) and jerked her chin toward a bookshelf. “Go get your deck. If you’re going to insult me, we’re going to be drunk and it’s going to be because I’m kicking your ass.”

An hour later Omega returned with his treasures. He really hadn’t meant to be gone so long but he’d gotten sidetracked at the record store. Ellie and Alpha had always gotten along just fine so it came as a surprise to hear shouting coming from the cabin as he approached. Balancing his music and beer in one hand, he shouldered the door open and found his kitchen looking like it had been hit by a natural disaster.

Beer bottles littered the counter, where the soup Ellie was making when he left sat untouched and growing colder by the second. An empty bottle of whiskey stood in the sink while half the cabinet doors hung wide open, their contents rifled through as though a horde of angry mice had swung by on their way to a rave.

“You stark raving lunatic bitch! There’s no way that's legal!” Alpha’s shout echoed off the walls, drawing Omega’s attention to the pair at the table.

Ellie was on her knees in the chair, a cigarette between her lips and one of those atrocious green poker visors perched low on her brow. She was jabbing an entire bottle of wine at Alpha’s shouting mouth, who sat in nothing but his undershirt and boxers. The table was covered in a veritable army of cards, the apparent source of their agitation.

Taking a drag from her cigarette, Ellie blew smoke rings in Alpha’s direction. “You have to do it.” Her words were more than a little slurred. “This card says I draw three cards, and this card says I draw three more. That means you gotta discard at LEAST twenty four cards from your deck.”

Omega interrupted the pair before more yelling could take place. “What the hell are you two doing?”

Alpha scowled at Ellie. “Your girlfriend’s a cheating asshole.”

Ellie let out an indignant squawk and threw her burning cigarette at Alpha’s cards. He yelped and snatched it away before it could do any damage.

Omega scooped Ellie up from the chair and took her place, settling her in his lap with her arms pinned by her sides. “I’m stopping this before you burn my goddamn house down.” He said, and glared at Alpha until he stuck the cigarette in an empty beer bottle. “Now, two questions. First – why is Alpha almost naked?”

“I dunno. He doesn’t have anything I wanna see.” Ellie growled and bared her teeth.

Omega looked to Alpha for the answer but the other Ghoul shrugged as if he didn’t know either. “Ooookay. Second question- why does Alpha think you’re cheating?”

“’Cause he’s a baby back BITCH.” She deepened her voice and said it the way a sports announcer would.

Omega hid his grin in her hair and smacked her thigh. “A real answer, honey.”

She shook her head as if to clear it and set her shoulders, jerking her arms from Omega’s grasp. She pointed to her cards and explained, “I p-played “Pour Over the Pages”. It lets me draw three cards.” She pointed to another card. “This one, Alhamm..Alhammerrr…Alhamburglars Archive says I get to draw two cards instead of one –“

Alpha held up a hand like a kid needing to go to the bathroom during class. “Why does the Hamburglar have an archive?”

Ellie cocked her head in consideration of the question and began to giggle. “Maybe he has the Krabby Patty secret formula.”

Omega could only stare as she and Alpha bumped fists and laughed themselves stupid over her ridiculous answer. Ellie came to her senses first, throwing up her arms to bring the attention back to the game.

“Shut up! Both of you. Shut. Up. You’re distracting me.” She picked up two more cards, both showing the same illustration: Sphinx’s Tutelage. “Now. Now. This enchantment means for every card I draw, HE,” she flung a dramatic hand to Alpha, “has to discard two cards from his deck. And I have TWO of them.”

Ellie wiggled her butt in Omega's lap, eager to finally reach her grand conclusion. “So if I draw six cards, that means he’s gotta discard twelve cards, and then another twelve cards. And, and, AND if they’re the same color and not land, he has to discard another two cards.”

Omega went over the math in his head, double checked the card stipulations and stared a little wide eyed at the woman in his arms. “That’s cold, babe.”

She let out an enthusiastically evil laugh. “Fuck right it is. Bitches.”

Alpha groaned in to the cards in his hand and threw them down in front of him. “I give up. She’ll wipe out my deck!”

Ellie bounced out a victory dance against Omega’s groin, causing him to grab her arms again to keep her still. “El, you have to stop squirming unless you want to give Alpha a show.”

Alpha covered his eyes and groaned some more. “Oh god no. Do not do couple things. That’s sick.” One of his eyes peaked out between his fingers. “Unless I get to join?”

Omega glared at his brother once more, until Ellie clapped her hands together and twisted to face him with a hopeful expression. “No!” His voice betrayed his alarm. “Tell Alpha no!”

Ellie stuck her tongue out at him and turned away. “Omega the Square says no. Sorry Alpha.”

Omega wondered how much alcohol he would need to drink before he would forget this conversation ever happened.


	2. So the Drama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's only one small story left to go - Papa! The set up for Ellie's next big adventure will be revealed in that one, which is already written. I might post it really soon just so we can leave 2016 on a cliffhanger xD

**Present Day**  

Alpha brushed his suit free of dust as he stood in the main house entrance, not bothering to watch the portal snap shut behind him. He hadn’t been back for a visit in three weeks, and he was desperately hoping things were going better than they had been the last time he came to record with his brother. He and Omega had several other projects in the works besides Ghost and Alpha felt like they were making real progress with the new sound they were experimenting with, or at least he had thought so until Omega began distancing himself.

It was a familiar act, one Alpha thought his oldest friend had grown out of in the past few years. Omega had always been the most susceptible to the pressures of touring, often becoming restless and grumpy until they had more than a day off. When they were home and inspiration struck it wasn’t uncommon for him to disappear for weeks at a time, hiding away from everyone until his creative streak was exhausted. ‘Obsessive’ didn’t come close to describing how he buried himself in his music.

The Fire Ghoul approached the door leading to the basement and his brow wrinkled as he found it standing wide open, darkness encasing the stairs and the room beyond. Ellie had mentioned she couldn't get Omega to leave the studio without a fight – perhaps his brother had snapped out of his mania and rejoined the world of the living. When he came last month Alpha could hardly get him to speak, let alone get him out of his cave. He’d told Alpha to go upstairs and keep Ellie company while he finished something and then it was five hours later and time to get back to the bus.

Before he could search out his two friends, he noticed a piece of paper tacked to the inside of the door. It contained only one line, the scratchy lettering as familiar as his own terrible handwriting.

_Something is watching_

Alpha crushed the paper in his fist, stuffed it in his pocket and made a point to shut the basement door. The inky blackness and cryptic note had him seriously creeped out. Maybe he’d accidentally stumbled across some kinky sex game Omega and Ellie liked to play. It would definitely be better than the alternatives his mind was beginning to conjure up.

Turning away from the door, he strode down the hall and entered the library, the room just as dark as the studio except for light emanating from the computer where Ellie did her work. From where he stood he could see her sitting with her face inches from the screen, motionless except for her rapidly moving lips. The words she muttered were too low for him to hear properly but he managed to catch a few that were either gibberish or something other than English.

His hand skated along the wall, searching, and he heaved an internal sigh as his fingers fumbled with the light switch. It was always easier to confront a mumbling crazy person when you could actually see where their mumbling crazy ass was located.

Ellie didn’t move as the lights flickered on overhead, leaving Alpha to wonder if he might have to run away and never return because something FREAKY was _definitely_ going on in this house. His fears were momentarily assuaged when he saw Ellie finally blink and straighten from her hunched position, but came flooding back when his eyes met hers and he found them not their natural green but opaque white.

Between one breath and the next he watched the whiteness melt away – a trick of the light? With the normal color of her eyes came awareness and recognition. “Hey stranger!” She jumped up from the chair to give him her customary welcome hug. As Alpha returned the hug, he realized there was more wrong with Ellie than just eye color. He bit back a gasp at the sharpness of her shoulders – the bones were practically poking through her skin. Her hair (now waist-length) hung in greasy clumps and was liberally streaked with silver.

It also became apparent she hadn't been bathing regularly.

As she pulled away it was her face that broke his neutral facade. "Jesus Christ! Ellie, you look like a corpse!" The words tumbled out before he could even attempt to censor himself, but they were true. Her skin was so pale it was practically translucent and stretched tightly across her cheekbones. Dark circles ringed eyes that had sunk deeply under her brow, matching her hollowed cheeks and cracked lips. 

"Keep talking like that and you might just steal me away from Omega." Though there was humor in her tone, it failed to reach her forced smile. 

Alpha scowled at her, not in the mood for flippant answers for once in his life. "And where exactly is he?" 

Ellie's eyes flicked to the door as though Omega might appear behind them but he could see disappointment settle across her features as she found nothing but empty space. "The same place he's been for the past two weeks: the studio." 

"I passed the studio on the way here and it's dark." He said, wondering how she could have missed something so obvious. 

A shiver rocked her newly slender frame. "Yeah." Her voice lowered to a whisper. "He went in there two weeks ago, and the lights went off a week and a half later." 

Now it was Alpha's turn to shiver. "You mean he's...down there?" He suddenly wished very much that he was still a virgin, so he might survive whatever horror movie he'd blundered into. 

Ellie nodded. "Oh Alpha, it's been awful." Tears shone in her eyes and she did her best to scrub them away as she told him everything. "I haven't seen him eat or sleep - he hasn't spoken a word to me since your last visit, except to tell me to get out. I sat outside the door for an entire day but that’s when he turned out the lights.”

Alpha was at a loss for words. “Why didn’t you call one of us?”

“I did!” Her voice rose an octave. “Air told me it this is normal behavior for him. I-I thought waiting it out would work.”

He surveyed her deteriorated appearance. “How long have you been in this room?”

Ellie shrugged. “It’s only been a day – I’m fine. Yesterday was Monday, yeah? I lose track of the days so easily when I'm not going to work on a regular basis.”

“Today is Thursday, El. You’ve lost three days.” He gripped her arm and started pulling her to the door. “You’re coming back to the bus until we know what’s going on.”

She surprised him again as she struggled to free herself from his hold. “No! Alpha, no. It’s okay. I’m not afraid of Omega. I still have my power, remember? Since he’s human I can stop him if…if he gets out of hand.” She tugged harder and he released her, afraid he might fracture her brittle bones.

Inching back to the middle of the room, she continued, “It’s just my nightmares. I told you about them. Omega was sympathetic at first and he tried to help, but they’ve gotten worse.”

She wrapped her arms around her middle in an effort to stop shaking. “I’ve gone back to the cabin and I’ve gone upstairs to sleep but every time I do I always wake up here in the library. That’s how the dream always starts – me coming to the main house. I must be sleepwalking.”

It scared Alpha to hear Ellie talk like that. He knew what it was like to have nightmares plague him until sleeping was simply out of the question but he’d never played them out in the real world. Plus, he had Papa (even if he did go about his protection duties the wrong way with his idiotic deal).

He extended a hand to the hallway. “I don’t want you staying here, but I can’t force you to leave. At least eat something and take a bath before I go. You’re getting pretty ripe.”

He finally wrung a chuckle from her but she was far and away from being her regular self. “What about Omega?” Her devotion was admirable but also kind of ridiculous. Alpha couldn’t believe he once thought her another one of his brother’s fly-by-night women, but there was something incredibly wrong if she up here whining instead of down in the studio tearing him a new one.

He motioned for her to leave before answering. “I’ll take care of him. I’ll bring Air back as soon as I can. Shit, I’ll bring Papa if I have to, their stupid feud be damned. Let’s just focus on you for right now.”

Alpha walked her to the kitchen and discovered half the food in the fridge was well past the date of expiration. Ellie couldn’t remember when one of them had gone to the store last. He scrounged up some soup from the pantry and mother-henned over her until she ate every drop. Then he pushed her up the stairs and in to the shower, waiting in her room while she bathed and changed in to clean clothes. Despite her protests of not being sleepy, he tucked her in bed and promised to wait as long as he could before he had to leave.

Once she drifted off he let Air know he was ready so the Ghoul could open a portal for him. Pausing in the doorway, Alpha stared at the sleeping lump in the middle of the bed.

“Just don’t come out of a TV to kill me, okay?” He said it softly so he wouldn’t wake her, a bit of humor for himself.

“Be careful what you wish for.” Her whispered reply had him scooting down the stairs two at a time.

* * *

A cacophony of screams and wild laughter had Ellie jerking awake so hard she nearly fell out of her chair. Blearily she looked around and realized she was back in the library, a pile of books stacked beneath her drooling mouth to act as a pillow.

Alpha had put her to bed upstairs but not even he was enough of a deterrent for her nightmares and she ended up in the same spot she had been for weeks now. Tired to her core, she wondered if this cycle of horrors would ever be broken or if she was destined to live like this forever.

Ellie tried to pull herself together and stop such overly dramatic thoughts, but then the music started. When she first came to stay here Omega would leave the door open so she could hear when he played, a kind of call to her to come down and spend time with him. It was sweet and fun but she hadn’t heard it in what felt like ages. Hearing it now did not reassure her that he was miraculously feeling better.

In fact, it angered her. She shoved away from the table, the chair beneath her toppling over backwards along with the books on the table. Approaching the studio she realized the lights were still off and something inside her shattered. She slammed the door shut to stop the music and ran for the closet that held the pathway to HQ.

If she didn’t leave now, she felt like she might never be able to again.


End file.
